Figure 3: Molecular weight distributions of dissolved (<0.45 μm) lead (Pb), iron (Fe) and organic matter (DOM) in the Athabasca River (AR) surface water sample. | Scientific Reports

Figure 3: Molecular weight distributions of dissolved (<0.45 μm) lead (Pb), iron (Fe) and organic matter (DOM) in the Athabasca River (AR) surface water sample.

From: Size-resolved Pb distribution in the Athabasca River shows snowmelt in the bituminous sands region an insignificant source of dissolved Pb

Figure 3

DOM and Fe peaks at ~0.98 and 1.7 kDa, and peak at >20 kDa (middle panel) show the primarily organic and primarily inorganic colloids, respectively. Fractionation of dissolved Pb (upper panel) shows Pb association with both organic and inorganic colloids. Data is baseline corrected and Pb data is smoothed (5 point running average). Here we define colloidal Pb = Pb associated with organic colloids + Pb associated with inorganic colloids, and mainly ionic Pb = Dissolved Pb - Colloidal Pb. The crossflow was shut off to release large material at a retention time corresponding to a molecular weight of ~104. Thus, the specific molecular weight of material that is larger than this cannot be determined.

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